It was the gateway to all the mountainous region lying north of the South Platte River and extending from the Plains to the Continental Divide.

The trappers built cabins here along the Cache la Poudre River as early as 1828, making it the first settlement in Larimer County.

A band of mountaineers, hunters and trappers made LaPorte their headquarters for fur catching and trading operations.

Between fifty and sixty log dwellings were erected that year along the banks of the Cache la Poudre River in the valley, and in November 1861 the territorial legislature designated Laporte as the county seat.

[citation needed] LaPorte soon became a bustling business and supply center for emigrants, with wagon trains and stagecoaches constantly passing through.

In 1863 the 13th Kansas volunteer infantry was stationed to Laporte, acting as escort for the Overland Stage on the trail to Virginia Dale.

In L. Neil Smith's North American Confederacy series of novels, beginning with The Probability Broach, an alternate-history LaPorte is one of the major cities of North America, occupying roughly half the area of Larimer County, and with a population of over two million people, whereas the city of Denver does not exist; in its place are the two small historic settlements of Saint Charles Town and Auraria.